FB.01.03
April 23, 2001
APPROVED BY UIUC SENATE
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN SENATE Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits
(Final -Action) FB.01.03 Resolution in Support of HB 0901, A Bill Providing 100% Tuition Discounts Background: Public Act 87-0793 granted a waiver for 50 % of the cost of tuition for up to four years to children of certain current employees (i.e., those with at least 50 % SURS-eligible appointments for at least nine months as of the beginning of the academic term in which the waiver is claimed and seven years of service credit) who are enrolled in, and making satisfactory progress toward an undergraduate degree, at an Illinois state institution of higher education. House Bill 0901, which has passed the House and been referred to the Senate Rules Committee, would modify this program. It provides 100% tuition discounts, extends coverage to retired employees, and was amended to include employees of the Waste Management and Research Center, the Illinois State Water Survey, the Illinois State Geological Survey, and the Illinois State Natural History Survey. Resolution: Whereas, The UIUC Senate is encouraged by recent action by the Illinois House of Representatives in passing a bill to increase to 100% undergraduate tuition discounts for the children of University of Illinois and other state university employees; Whereas, Such a benefit will strengthen the University of Illinois by making the institution more attractive to prospective faculty and staff recruits; Whereas, Tuition discounts are very common in private universities and are in place in other public universities, including Ohio State and Purdue. Its modest fiscal outlay will prove a very cost-effective benefit, especially to non-academic employees who have loyally served the university; and Whereas, The children of deceased university employees' children, who at the time of death were full time employee with more than seven years of service, have a special need for this benefit; Resolved, That the UIUC Senate commends Senator Stanley Weaver for sponsoring this bill in the Illinois Senate, and strongly encourages Senator Weaver to persuade his Senate colleagues to support the bill; Resolved, That this sense of the UIUC Senate be promptly communicated in a letter to Senator Weaver by the Chair of Senate Council; Resolved, That the Chair of Senate Council request that HB0901 be amended to include children of deceased university employees, who at the time of death were full-time employees with greater than seven years of service; and Resolved, That, should this bill pass the Illinois General Assembly, the Chair of Senate Council convey this sense of the UIUC Senate to Governor George Ryan and urge his signing this measure into law. Senate Committee on Faculty Benefits
Michael Murphy, Chair
Barry Ackerson
Gerald Brighton
Stephen Kaufman
Matthew Kraatz
Helaine Silverman
James Beedie, Ex officio (designee)
Abbie Broga, PAC Liaison
James Davito, Ex officio (designee)
Terry Jobin, Permanent Observer
Thomas O'Rourke, Observer
Mary Ellen O'Shaughnessey, Ex officio
Ronald Peters, Observer
James Simon, Ex officio
Beth Slotnick, Observer
Thomas Ulen, Ex officio